Black and White
by AndersenYuki4404
Summary: Aster and Zane tie the knot, but when anything can go wrong, it tends to. Sequel to Fun and Games, Give and Receive, and Love and Family.
1. Kidnapped by the Groomsmen

Black and White

Plot Summary- Aster and Zane tie the knot, but when anything can go wrong, it tends to.

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh Gx or its characters.

Chapter 1: Kidnapped by the Groomsmen

Note- I've tried to keep my writing in character as much as possible but please keep in mind it's very difficult in this particular story. So if the characters seem out of it, I do apologize and will try better to keep them as such. Thanks and enjoy :)

**Zane's POV**

Black hadn't always been my color. It just sort of happened over time. It was simple yet, layered. Was black really a symbol of darkness? Or was it one of realism? Was it the color of someone who wanted nothing to do with the world around them? Or the color of someone who had nothing to hide. I didn't know what black was to me—just that was everything I stood for.

I guess it made sense we had settled on a black and white themed wedding. It symbolized Aster and I perfectly. After all, for years he had dressed himself in white and proclaimed to be a great hero. And in a more cliché sort of way, he was the light that made my otherwise dark life interesting.

"Then after asking for objections, provided no one has any, you two will get to recite your vows." Alba Morris, the judge conducting our wedding and my parent's old friend, said. Aster and I were exchanging looks between her and each other as we waited for the end of the rehearsal. We wouldn't have even gone through with it, had my mother not insisted upon it. I guess she was just bent on milking this wedding thing for whatever it was worth. "After the vows—you'll then say your 'I do' and we'll end with the exchanging of the rings. Then I will…actually, I'm not sure how you want to be announced…"

"Just Aster and Zane will be fine—life partners if you want to be poetic about it." I explained quickly. I was too impatient for this. For the past week, I had been so busy getting St. James presentable for our wedding that I barely had the time to speak to my soon to be fiancée—let alone relieve my obvious tensions.

Alba nodded. "Partners it is then…Then you'll wait here for the blessing and since you're having the reception outside…well, just have a great time after that." She smiled warmly as we allowed ourselves to move. We faced the people who would be our primary witnesses. On my side, I had Syrus as my best man (as I had always promised my mother) with Atticus and Alexis standing in as my attendants. On other side, Sartorius was standing as Aster's best man, with Sirena and Larius as his attendants. My mother and father came forward to offer their thanks.

"We can't thank you enough for this, Alba." My mother said politely. I didn't stick around for the conversation. My hand found itself in my fiancée's hand. I was almost certain nobody was paying attention, which gave us the perfect chance for a getaway.

"What are you doing?" He asked when I started pulling him away.

"Shush, you'll let them know we're leaving."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "We are? But…we still have to talk to your parents, go over the vows with Alba and…"

"We can do those things tomorrow." I turned around and kissed him. Putting my desperation, desire, and need behind it. I whispered against his lips. "Right now, I want to love you as my fiancée one last night…"

I could feel the breathless tremble his lips gave—he wanted me as much as I wanted him. I know he had been trying to keep me away physically since he wanted the honeymoon to actually be worth wild—to me, it mattered about as much as the name husband did. In the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't change how I felt about him, or how I treated him. Really, this was just putting it on paper. Just an assurance of what we already knew; we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.

Too bad our friends had to get involved.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" I closed my eyes and heaved back a heavy sigh. Atticus was standing behind Aster with our entire circle around him. Jaden was standing cross-armed next to him and even Sartorius had joined the group (Atticus, Sartorius, Sirena, Alexis, Jaden, Jesse, Syrus, Chazz, Kenzan, Larius, Yusuke, and Jim all in all). Atticus was leaning his elbow against his boyfriend Yusuke's shoulder, who seemed to be the only member of the group who was confused. "You can't spend the night before your fiancée! It's bad luck."

Aster turned around to face everyone as well, looking just as confused as I was. "Besides…you still have your bachelor parties tonight." Jaden threw in, cocking his hips and giving us a mother-like look.

"Bachelor party?" Aster asked in a low, nervous tone. This was the very thing he tried to prevent. We had both agreed that there was no reason for our friends to celebrate 'our last night as single men', when really the whole point would be to get us as embarrassed as possible.

Jesse smiled and took two steps forward. "Yes sir, two separate parties we planned just for you two."

Atticus walked over and wrapped an arm around me. "I planned your party Zaney! And FYI, I wasn't PG about it. So kiss your boyfriend goodbye, because you're staying with Yusuke and me tonight!"

"Um, no…" I removed Atticus's arm from around my neck as I calmly spoke. "Look, I appreciate the thought but Aster and I just wanted to go to our hotel and spend quality time together."

"And that's why your having a bachelor party…It's bad luck for you guys to see each other before the wedding and that will be impossible to avoid if you're staying in the same room." Alexis insisted. "Not to mention, I doubt you'll keep from doing the maritals before your even married…" Damn, she knew me too well.

"So what if we do? It's not like we weren't doing them before." Aster explained in an exasperated voice. "I don't want a bachelor party, Zane doesn't want one, and we want to spend the night before our wedding together, and that's it—you can't talk us out of it."

When I heard Atticus crackle and saw Jaden's smile, my blood turn cold. I realized they were going to do this with or without our permission. "Playing it hard then, huh? Alright then—Groomsmen go!"

Without much more warning, Jesse and Yusuke came forward and grabbed both my arms, while Larius and Jaden made a grab for Aster. I tried to call out for my parents to stop it, but my mother smiled at us. So she was in on it too? I glared at Syrus.

"Mom thought it'd be good for you to party with your friends." My younger brother laughed and followed as I was dragged to the front door. I saw Aster being dragged towards the back door—looking numb with anger and confusion. I was somewhere between angry and impressed. With Jaden and Atticus in charge of this little kidnapping—it went surprising well.

But I wouldn't get a chance to kiss my fiancée goodbye as Atticus claimed—nor did I like the idea of Jaden being in charge of his bachelor party.

()

They (they being Atticus, Yusuke, Jesse, Alexis, Syrus, and Jim) took me to a bar not far from St. James church called Reeds Palace. I had to admit, I kind of like the place. It was a large but homely looking. The counters were glass displays which contained either antique liquor or pictures of celebrities who had been here. The music was an interesting mix of jazz and rock n roll. The place was packed but Atticus had reserved us a table in the back, properly secluded away from most of the other people.

"Not a bad way to send off your freedom huh?" Atticus asked quite proud of himself. At this point, even while looking at the drink list, I was trying my best to be difficult. I didn't like being told what to do; and I certainly didn't like surprises. Atticus laughed and slapped my back. "Come on! You better lighten up before _she_ gets here."

I looked at Atticus and narrowed my eyes. "Before who gets here?" But he was turned away, saying something to Yusuke. Alexis laughed and patted my hand.

"Relax Zane, I've kept an eye on the planning and I didn't let him go crazy." It actually did help to hear her say that. I may not trust anymore than I could throw him, but Alexis was my reasonable friend—she knew what was good for the soul and what would send you to hell.

"Sorry, I'm just really tense. I've been…stressing out about this wedding all week and I really didn't want to make a big deal about…"

"You not being a boyfriend and being a husband instead?" Alexis said. A waiter came and we gave him our drink orders. After he left I addressed her question.

"I am a little concerned about that."

"Well, why wouldn't you? After all, I don't think marriage was ever a part of your big scheme."

I gave her a strange look. "Yeah but…I didn't think I'd be so confused—especially now. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm marrying him and I'm happy about it but…what if things become boring after that? What if I can't manage to keep him around?"

"Why? Because you don't have a family of freaks trying to kill you two anymore?" Syrus added, leaning on his elbows. "Seriously, I think boredom would be some welcomed peace."

"And it's not like you two are completely domestic to begin with… I'm sure the excitement in your lives are far from gone." Alexis said as the waiter appeared with our drinks. I had ordered a Tequila sunrise but Atticus had apparently ordered an abundance of shots. My current conversation was set aside as Atticus stood up; pretending to be sad and raising his apple martini.

"Dearly beloved! We are gathered here to tonight to say goodbye to Zane's single life once and for all." I cracked a smile for the first time; I wasn't really surprised to see Atticus make my party into something dramatic. "Although it was a long and fulfilling life, tomorrow it will be ended tragically, but respectfully by the sacred death we call 'matrimony'."

"In honor of this sadly exciting celebration—we will now do our first shot in honor of Zane." Yusuke helped Atticus pass out the first shots—some kind of weird whisky. After saying a quick 'prayer' we downed the first shot and gave a loud cheer.

First every person stood up and said a few words about my soon-to-be-gone 'single life'. "Zane really wasn't all that much fun when he was single. He'd always want to hang out at home or study." Atticus proclaimed with a disgusted face when the word 'study' came up. "I mean, when you date that boy, he makes up for it in the bedroom, but really this whole marriage will be good for him. Now the rest of us don't have to suffer anymore."

I rolled my eyes and raised my glass. "Yeah, and thank god it wasn't to you. Otherwise, this would really be a funeral."

Alexis was next. "I think the real tragedy here was that Zane never really got to fulfill those dreams he always had. He once told me he wouldn't mind having a threesome with a man and a woman, but unless Aster's really open minded, I doubt that will happen. It's okay though, you can live your sickest fantasies vicariously through me."

"Yeah, I'm sure Sirena would go for that." She elbowed my laughing brother as she sat down. My brother gave his speech next.

"Zane getting engaged was surprising to say the least. But not nearly as surprised as my parents were when they met Aster." I frowned, dear god not that story. Syrus gave me a knowing look and smiled. "Let's just say this, either Zane was trying to warm his hands under Aster's shirt or he was seconds away from tearing off. And now that they're getting married, we can look forward to more awkward moments like that."

I glared my brother down; secretly planning to seek revenge against him. He shrugged confidently; believing in his naive little head that since it was a bachelor party, he was safe. I was surprised when Yusuke stood up to offer a few words. His was probably the tamest one. "I only really knew Zane well during our freshmen year at duel academy. But even then every girl wanted him. We use to joke that when he made it to the pro leagues, girls would throw their underwear at him after he won the duels. Needless to say, hundreds of girls would have killed to marry the very elusive Zane Truesdale."

Atticus brought Yusuke down next to him and smiled. "You know what they say; if you love it, put a ring on it."

"You know," Jesse said standing up. "As a guy who soon will be married himself—I can understand exactly why Zane is willing to give up his bachelorhood. After all; as great as it is to be single and free, nothing can compare to spending the rest of your life with the person you love—and having lots and lots of careless, renewed romance sex! Not that you needed a reason to do it but, it's always nice to have it."

It was just out of character enough for me to look at Jesse with wide-eyes. Had he gotten drunk that quickly? It took me a moment to realize that he wasn't even drinking. This was just Jesse at a crazy party. He smiled. "So cheers to you; and may the loving—physical and emotional, be completely paradise."

I downed what was left of my Tequila Sunrise. Jim has passed to say anything since really he was here more on Jaden and Kenzan's behalf. I gave him a nod of respect and ordered another drink. If I was going to be humiliated, I was going to get good and drunk for it.

After awhile, we lunged into a game of 'Who knows the groom best?' The game had a mix of PG and R questions but by a certain point, I was too inebriated to care. I even found myself laughing at a few of the responses.

I was however, not drunk enough to enjoy _her _when she finally showed up.

"Truesdale party?" I looked up to see a beautiful woman about my age. Her hair was red as fire as it fell into ringlets around her shoulders. Her skin was bright white like a flash of lighting with eyes shining like brown velvet. Her red lips flexed into a smile as her arms folded above her stomach—opening the top of her robe style black dress enough to show off her generous bust. I wasn't usually so taken by women despite my general disregard for gender (admittedly I usually enjoyed men a bit more), but what could I say? This woman's appearance was difficult for any man to ignore.

Atticus smirked. "Yes ma'am."

It was then I realized—she was here for me. "You didn't…"

Her hands pulled open her dress—underneath, she was wearing a one piece lacy lingerie that matched her heels as well as her dress did. I tried to stand up—unwilling to go through with this. Atticus and Syrus managed to pull be back into my seat (and it was fairly easy considering how many drinks I had). And they bounded my hands together with a pair of handcuffs. She let the dress fall to the ground and took two steps closer, her hand tracing my jaw line.

"So, do you want to take this privately? Or just do it out here?" She said in a sweet tone of voice that…Actually sounded fairly similar to a voice I once knew. I shook my head, hoping to indicate that I didn't want this anywhere—at all. But she shrugged. "Alright, out here it is."

This earned some calls and whistles from my group. She leaned closer and rubbed her hands over my chest. I growled and tried to move my chair away. Some people might have done this at their party, and hey, that works for some people. But I couldn't do this—not when my heart belonged with Aster. Strangers in general just didn't do it for me, but even if I know this girl, my young fiancée mattered too much for me to consider this.

But when she kissed my cheek, a smile forming yet against my face—I was shocked. I did know her.

"Layla?" She chuckled as she pulled away. It had been years since I had seen her—really, not since I had left for duel academy, but my parents had remained friends with her parents. But my greatest memory of her was when we were about ten—when we had given each other our first kiss during a boy-girl party.

"It's great to see you too." She ran a thumb over my face and laughed, her thumb was red. "Sorry, I got some lipstick on you."

Syrus and Atticus uncuffed me while she put her dress back on. So—this was all just a trick conducted by my wedding party? I was too relieved to be mad. "But how did you know?"

"Atticus got the idea, and had me call her up." Syrus said, still laughing at my discomfort. "Actually, she owns this place and offered for us to have the party here when we told her you were getting married in England."

"Well, my husband owns it. Still, one of the many perks of being Mrs. Harvey Reed." Layla clicked her tongue as she threw me a sly smile. "Although, one look at you and I wonder if I should have taken my chances twelve years ago…But I have to say, you're no Harvey."

I laughed. "And Mr. Reed was okay with this?"

"Are you kidding? He thought it was hilarious! He wanted to meet you but got called to one of his other places. It's too bad, I think you would have liked him but…I bought the lingerie to cheer him up." She winked at me and looked around at our party. "Anyone need anything?"

"Some more shots would be awesome." Atticus said, feeling the need to celebrate his great accomplishment. Layla laughed.

"Alright coming right up…And by the way Zane, congratulations. I've seen your boy on T.V….Pretty cute—luckiest man on earth if you ask me."

"Thanks Layla—it was great seeing you. Have me give you directions to the wedding before we go. You and your husband should stop by if you're not busy." I suggested.

"Sounds good; definitely will!" Although I'm not sure the story of how we met again would go over with my parents or Aster.

The party started dying down after awhile and Yusuke drove Atticus and I back to their hotel room. Shortly afterwards, they went off into the shower—presumably to do what drunk lovers did. I was too tipsy to really care. I was just relieved to make it through my party in one piece, and actually kind of glad I got a party. It was great to spend time with my friends and to properly recall my single life. There were some good times— including all the time I spent with Atticus, Aster and even Layla. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I was ready to put the awkward yet crazy world of dating behind me.

My phone buzzed and I looked at the screen. It was a text message from Aster. **You wouldn't believe the night I've had tonight!**

I smiled and texted back **Same here. **


	2. Kidnapped by the Wedding Party

Black and White

Plot Summary- Aster and Zane tie the knot, but when anything can go wrong, it tends to.

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh Gx or its characters. Or any of the songs mentioned in this fic.

Chapter 2: Kidnapped by the Wedding Party

Note- I've tried to keep my writing in character as much as possible but please keep in mind it's very difficult in this particular story. So if the characters seem out of it, I do apologize and will try better to keep them as such.

This is especially true for this chapter! I tried to keep the reactions how I would believe them to be, but I very much apologize if Aster or anyone else seems out of character! Thanks and hope you enjoy!

**Aster's POV**

White was deflective. It didn't just absorb the horrors of the world; it fought them off like a valiant hero. That's why I liked white, even after being put in the terrible white room when Ollie held me hostage. It made sense that Zane and I would have a black and white wedding theme. The colors matched our individual personalities while retaining a sense of togetherness.

Speaking of which, I had been looking forward to a night with my fiancée. We had been working so much on the wedding that it seemed like the only time we spent time together was when we were sleeping. But no… I was kidnapped by a group of deranged lunatics a.k.a my friends.

"So, are you going to at least tell me where my party is going to be?" I asked in an annoyed tone. I was talking to Jaden, who almost had to be in charge of my so-called 'bachelor party'. I couldn't imagine anyone in my actual wedding party being put in charge of this; especially Sartorius. Jaden almost had to be the mastermind behind this plot.

"Nope, but I'll give you a hint—it's something that requires you to be athletic." Jaden was sitting next to me; enjoying this a little too much for my taste.

I sighed; well, if it was something athletic, I was more likely to enjoy it. After all, before the hit and run, I was a superstar surfer and snow boarder. In between the wedding and my duel schedule, It's been hard to work my muscles back to a point where I could compete competitively again…Maybe after the wedding, that'd be the first thing on my list.

"How exactly did you guys get this idea? I mean, it'd be really impressive if it wasn't frustratingly annoying." I said in a low tone. Sartorius was smiling in the rear-view mirror.

"It was Jaden's idea." He stated.

"And I'm not surprised." Jaden laughed.

"Come on, As, you can't tell me you're not a little teary-eyed that we kidnapped you to celebrate your last night of bachelorhood." No, I guess I can't deny that it was thoughtful of them to do this—even if I didn't want it. I guess it was kind of like a gift you hated; you pretend it's the best thing ever when in reality; you wanted nothing to do with it. "Besides, I think our activity should make your honeymoon…fun."

Okay, now sirens were going off. What exactly was he planning to do with me? A list of things ran through my head. None of them really making sense. While I was able to rule out strip club, and sex toy store—I was almost afraid it'd be something worse.

Imagine my surprise when we pulled up in front of a rec center. Okay…this was weird.

"Come on!" Jaden laughed opening the door. Like a child watching an impending prank. "I can't wait to see the look on your face."

I shrugged and got out of the car. My entire party consisted of Myself, Sirena, Sartorius, Jaden, Chazz, Kenzan, and Larius. Sartorius kept an arm wrapped around Larius but had a nervous eye on me. Chazz oddly enough was smiling, almost making me feel like I was in a horror movie. Was everyone going to stab me the minute I walked through the door.

We climbed a flight of stairs up to the second floor—where the adult classrooms were. We walked until we reached room 2202. The strange vibes I got from everyone seemed to be screaming now—they reminded me that these peoples were my friends, and friends didn't do bad things to their friends.

I also didn't trust my friends. Not at all.

I opened the door and walked through. It didn't look much different than a dance studio. On one side, a man who appeared to be in his mid to late twenties was setting up different bottles of alcohol on a tray table. He had curly sandy-blonde hair and almond shaped green eyes. Although I was surprised to see his shirt was off; I had to admit, I didn't hate what I was seeing. It was obvious he worked out as he had strong firm muscles that didn't totally over-whelm his build. It kind of reminded me of what Zane looked like before his heart troubles began.

He looked up and smiled. "Oh, you must be my party appointment. I'm Jason."

I blinked and stepped forward, extending my hand towards out instructor. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Aster."

"Ah, so you're the man of the hour, huh? Well, I can assure you—your husband's going to love it when you show him your moves."

My moves? It was then I looked around Jason and realized there was a silver pole standing sparkling in the natural light. My eyes widened. I didn't how to react. I felt like backing up and leaving—my body seemed okay with that. I took a few steps back before I ran into Jaden.

"Nah-uh." His hands wrapped themselves on my shoulder. "You have to take the class—I've already paid for it. I even picked Jason out, just for you." His crackle made me growl. I expected something stupid, I expected something embarrassing, but this? This was beyond anything I ever expected.

Jason laughed and took the hand that I had extended before. Pulling me forward. "Relax, I know you're nervous but a lot of people actually have fun with it."

His smooth, cool voice kind of reminded me of Zane's voice. It did help me calm down a bit but not enough to do what he wanted to teach me. He offered me an understanding smile—apparently, I wasn't his first unsure client. "Here, why don't you have a drink and then we'll start with some stretches. If you don't like it, we won't make you do it, okay?"

I was still apprehensive, but….since he had already been paid, I figured I at least owed it to Jaden to do a few things with Jason. Maybe not get on the pole (at least not while ice skates were still forbidden in hell), but a little stretching couldn't hurt.

Sartorius mixed me a mint julep to start with. So far, my experiences with alcohol have been limited to wine (Zane and up until this night, my drink of choice). But it looked interesting and really, I had a soft spot for anything mint flavored—probably why Sartorius made it in the first place. After the first sip, my mouth seemed to cool complete temperatures. It wasn't uncomfortable in fact, it was kind of awesome. I guess wine wasn't my favorite drink anymore.

My clothes were far from appropriate for anything physical. During the week, I had been wearing old t-shirts and jeans to make the cleaning process a little easier. However, since tonight was my wedding rehearsal, I was wearing a fairly form-fitting white shirt with black dress pants, and while I did have a top underneath my shirt, I didn't want to take it off for the sake of comfort.

After my first drink—everyone but Sartorius (who gracefully decided to sit this one out) got into a row. Jason rolled his shoulders and began the class.

"Let's start easy—first reach your hands down to your toes and bend your back." The first couple of poses were similar to any normal stretching routine sports called for. At first my body was tense—still feeling the scars and aches from when I was hit by the car and when the numbing agent had affected my body. But after awhile, I became loose and my muscles moved freely. The ache had dulled to a warming relief. It was becoming harder for me to say I wasn't enjoying this.

Sartorius made me a different mint drink; a mojito. I didn't take another drink after that because while I had built a higher tolerance for alcohol, my system couldn't handle another one without becoming completely drunk. And in my current situation, I wasn't willing to lose my mind.

"Are you enjoying it so far?" He asked, filling my glass with water as I had requested.

"Yeah, but how could you let Jaden go through with this?" I asked, in a confused tone. It was so unlike him to even consider allowing this to happen. Usually, Sartorius was so protective; I would have almost expected him to make a bigger deal out of this than I did. "Did you even know about?"

Sartorius shrugged. "I did but…considering the occasion I thought it was okay. At first I didn't like the idea, but Jaden convinced me that my inability to be objective was because I've known you since you were a child—and you're not a child anymore. You're a full grown adult."

I was somewhat moved by Sartorius's words. I felt a little better knowing he had jumped for joy at the idea of pole dancing classes. I also felt good knowing that he didn't feel the need to protect and watch over me like he use to. In the last year, I had felt like Sartorius and I have come apart and bonded inconsistently. One minute, we were old friends, laughing and having fun like we always use to do. Then the next, he and I were arms link apart, never knowing what exactly happened to make it that way. Granted, most of that came from when he had started dating Larius, and I dating Zane—but I could still feel it sometimes, and I blamed it mostly on me growing out of my need for his protection. So, hearing him call me an adult was somewhat of a blessing.

Jason came over and put a hand on my shoulder. "You're doing pretty well for your first class."

"Well, um, I'm somewhat of an athlete. I haven't really done anything too exasperating since I got hit by a car but—it does feel really good." I said, surprised at how easy it was to like Jason. Normally, I didn't make judgments of people one way or another—at least, not until I got to know them better (although usually my first instinct of a person is correct). But I guess his slow-moving teaching philosophy made me a little more comfortable with him.

"Excellent, think you're ready to try the pole yet?" He laughed when my face flushed. "Okay, why don't I show you some moves away from the pole then and then we can work our way to the actual thing."

He lead me back out and we started the class up again. Jason set out in the front while almost everyone else took their position behind me. Sirena decided to sit out the rest of the class, leaving me, Jaden, Chazz, Larius, and Kenzan. This time the exercises required a little more balance and muscle movement. Jason would sweep through and correct someone if they did something wrong; but he mainly focused on me.

"You're doing a great job but make sure you extent your waist a little more—like this." His hand landed on the small of my back and pushed my stomach and hip forward. I fought to keep from jumping in shock. I've never allowed anyone but Zane to touch that low on my back. Jason laughed again. "Sorry, just easier to show you this way."

"It's fine." Against my original judgment, I had Sartorius make me one more mint julep—and by one more, I meant two more. By this point, my nerves were so relaxed I didn't care how Jason moved my body (provided it was friendly), and most of the other were even too drunk (minus Sartorius and Sirena) to care if I made a fool out of myself or not. Suddenly, my confidence had reached a level high to when Jason asked me if I was ready to try the pole, I responded with a quiet 'why not?'.

I had second thoughts when Jaden started leading a chorus of cat calls. Jason offered me a smile as he put one of my hands around the smooth, metal pole. "Relax; these are just your friends. I use to do this as an actual profession."

Can't say I'm surprised since he was running the class. "How did you deal with it?"

His smiled turned a little less innocent. "Well….You give them what they want. You like any particular music?" He stepped away from me to turn towards his iBoom with his iPod in it. I shrugged nonchalantly. "Alright, one of my favorites then…It's a little fast paced though so becareful. After awhile, you tend to lose yourself."

The stereo played the song loudly; and I vaguely remembered it. Layla by Derek and the Dominos. I was fairly familiar with Eric Clapton (Zane was a pretty big Clapton fan) and I had to admit; it was pretty catchy.

"Just get yourself familiar with it. Move your body against it and get use to your center of balance." I was too tense to focus on things like balance. Which was probably why I kind of tripped over the pole while trying to swing around it? The song ended and another came on. This one was one I wasn't so familiar with, but was a lot slower than the first one. Once I was relaxed and loose; Jason showed me a few moves and explained how to do them.

"Alright, now you try." The first move was fairly simple in itself. I built some momentum and wrapped one leg around the pole, the other one coming around and joining the first one. I spun around for one turn before my head became a dizzy drunken mess. I had to jump down to sooth it.

"Woo Aster!" Jaden clapped, adding a whistle for effect.

"That's how you do it, Phoenix!" Kenzan said in his loud voice. Certainly not helping my booming headache.

The next move was a little hard. I wrapped one leg back around the pole and kept my body still as I slowly swung back. This time I made it to the floor, landing my knees and allowing my back to bend to the floor. I winced at the pain—my back apparently hadn't been ready for that one. I bit it back and (not so) gracefully got back on my feet.

The last move involved more coordination than anything else. I wrapped both hands around the pole and wrapped a leg around it. I pushed myself off and spun around bringing my body closer to the pole so that I could stop. My head got dizzy again and my grip slipped, both hands coming off. On pure instinct, I brought my other leg up and wrapped it around the pole—my hands reached below my head and caught my upper body.

Everyone seemed genuinely impressed. "Wow, I haven't even showed you that move." Jason said. Everybody else clapped as I tried to pull myself up.

"That was a move? I was just trying to stop myself from cracking my head open." After pulling myself up, I dropped to my feet and stumbled away from the pole. Everything was spinning and making me dizzy. I could feel the alcohol coming back with a vengeance.

"I think he's had enough for tonight." Sartorius decided. He wrapped my arm around his shoulder so that I could balance.

"See? That wasn't so hard was it?" Jason joked. I could only nod as I felt the activity of the night catching up with me. It took a short amount of time before everything was packed up and we said our final goodbyes to Jason. Overall, the exercise was fun and I actually turned out to be pretty good at it. Would I be doing it again? Not a chance. At least, not in public.

()

"Are you sure you'll be okay here?" Sirena asked after we had returned to my apartment. She and Alexis had rented a room together on a different floor in the hotel Zane and I had rented. Tonight since Zane had been kidnapped, I would be sleeping alone. At the very least, she stuck around until I started to sober up. I could tell she was concerned about leaving me alone; but I didn't want to keep up all night.

"Yeah, I just need to sleep." I explained, while sending a text to Zane. **You wouldn't believe the night I've had tonight!**

"Alright well… Tomorrow's a big day so I'll let you get some sleep. I'm glad you had a good time."

I shrugged and rested my head against the pillow. Sirena laughed. "It was interesting to say the least. Thanks for making sure I got back okay."

She nodded and just as she left I got a text back from Zane. **Same here. **I rolled my eyes and set the phone on the nightstand. I doubted that his night compared to mine. Not unless it somehow involved a pole dancing class, and mint juleps.

Come to think of it. I don't think I wanted to know if it did.


	3. The Wedding Day

Black and White

Plot Summary- Aster and Zane tie the knot, but when anything can go wrong, it tends to.

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh Gx or its characters. Or any of the songs mentioned in this fic.

Chapter 3: The Wedding Day

**Aster's POV**

When Sirena got me up the next morning, I was too sore for words to express. Every muscle ached when I moved it; my head was killing me, and Zane not being there to nurse away the hangover kind of made me depressed. None the less, Sirena persisted that it was time to get up.

"Rise and shine! It's your wedding day!" The voice was a little too cheery for my taste. I rolled over; determined to bury myself in the world of sleep. "Come on Aster, we can't have the ceremony here."

"Did you even ask if we could?" But I sat up, dismayed to find myself still in my clothes from last night. I groaned and scratched my head. "What time is it?"

"10 o' clock. Sartorius ordered you room service and it should be shortly. He said after you're done eating, you're suppose to get cleaned up so I can take you to the salon. Any questions?" She asked. There was a knock at the door and Sirena went to retrieve my meal. A nice serving of steak and eggs—thank god for Sartorius.

After breakfast/brunch, I took my shower. I felt every inch of my skin to discover that everything ached more than I could ever imagine. Yeah Jaden, pole-dancing class was a great idea—now my body felt like a rag doll with all the limbs torn. My headache was still prominent enough that I decided to let Sirena help me shave—I didn't trust my shaky hands to do the job.

We left for the salon which turned out to be a little traditional place. Not really a great surprise considering Sartorius's usual attitude. What did surprise me was that Rissa was there, talking to Larius about something she had seen in a designer book.

"There's my future son-in-law!"I cringed inwardly at how loud she was, but forced myself to smile. Rissa embraced me warmly, and whispered in my ear. "Zane wanted me to get ready here so I could tell him how you were. I think he really missed you last night."

"Thanks," I murmured, smiling down at my future mother-in-law. "I missed him too; how was his party, do you know?"

"Well, let's just say I don't think my son will be drinking again anytime soon." She said, pressing the back of her hand to my forehead. "Well, judging by the fact you don't have a fever, I guess you had a little too much to drink too?"

As if on cue, Sartorius walked out from the back and smiled when he saw me. "Oh good, glad to see you survived the night. Excuse us, Mrs. Truesdale."

"Of course…See you in a little while." Sartorius pulled me towards the back of the store. My headache booming from the loud welcome I had received from my future mother-in-law. He took me into a dark room with scented aura candles acting at the only light. The smell eased the edge off of my headache. In the middle of the room, there was a massage table. This part kind of confused me.

"Lay down on the table." Sartorius said, his purple eyes glowing in the low light. I did as I was told, trying my best not to fall asleep to escape the pain. Sartorius walked over and put his hands on either side of my head.

"What are you…?"

"Ssshhhh, I'm trying something and I need full concentration." He started to massage my temple slowly, muttering soft words. This didn't help the not-falling-asleep part. Just as I was about to close my eyes, he added pressure.

I repeated my earlier question but it was self-answered. My headache started fading away and soon it was as if it was never there at all. When he pulled his hands away, I pushed myself on to my forearms—I felt great. Nothing like the hung-over mass of nothing I was earlier. "How did you know you could do that?"

"I didn't, but I thought it was worth a shot." He said. I noticed his eyes had stopped glowing. "How do you feel?"

"Fantastic now."

"Good, because we have a long day, and I intend to make it as smooth as possible."

()

After we finished up at the salon, we ate some lunch and headed over to Rissa's hotel room where we would start getting ready for the wedding. Sartorius had my tuxedo sent over so it was only a matter of getting everyone ready. Alexis was waiting for us at the apartment as we started to get ready for my 2 o'clock wedding.

"Aster, you look positively handsome!" Rissa said as I took a look in the mirror. My jacket was for the most part white, with black tread leading up the color with the pants a matching color of white. My silk vest and tie however, were black to represent my future husband. Since I refused to carry a bouquet (the idea was thrown out the window as soon as it was suggested) I compromised for a white rose corsage that was pinned to my collar. Needless to say—I couldn't disagree with her. "Wait until my son sets his eyes on you."

"You two couldn't pick a less revealing dress?" Sirena was complaining about her spaghetti top gown—which to correspond with the wedding was white with a black over skirt and black patterns tracing the white areas. Alexis was wearing the exact same dress since they were the only two females in our wedding party. I honestly didn't see why she was complaining other than the fact she hated dresses as opposed to kimonos—I wouldn't go as far as to call it 'revealing'.

Sartorius came out of the bathroom wearing a white button up shirt and black vest and tie. "You look fine; you can at least wear it for the ceremony… I just got off the phone with the limousine driver and he'll be here shortly so we should be heading down to the lobby soon."

"Wait a minute!" Rissa said suddenly, adjusting her dress with the white-black printed top with the flowing black skirt. "We still haven't done the traditions! You can't have him married without something new, something old, something borrowed, and something blue."

"Oh! I have something borrowed!" Sirena said. She walked over to her garment bag and pulled out a black-bedded necklace with purple circular shapes on it. She handed the necklace to Sartorius to present to me.

"This necklace has been passed down through generations in our family—it's always to be worn by the family member about to be married and well—Sirena and I consider you family, so we thought it was only right if you would wear it." I was rendered speechless by what the necklace meant. I reached out and took it into my hands. My whole life I had wanted a complete family—being with just my dad was great but I so terribly wanted to have a mother and a couple siblings as well. Sartorius and Sirena had showed me just what it was like to have an older brother and sister by your side—and it was wonderful. I just didn't consider them family—they were my family.

"Thank you…"

"My turn! Sam wanted me to give you this one." Rissa said, extending a delicate, dried rose to me. I watched it curiously, wondering why Sam would want me to have it. "He said your mother gave him this when they attended a ball. It breaks your color coordination but…"

"I'd be honored to wear it, thank you." I took the flower and pinned it just under my corsage. It was true—the red seemed a little out of place with the overall black and white theme, but I couldn't turn down an opportunity to honor both my future father-in-law and my own mother.

"And Zane wanted to give you something new." Alexis explained, pulling jewelry out and handing it to me. I took the box into my hands and opened it—not prepared to see what was inside.

It was an exact replica of the pocket watch Zane had given me while we were dating. The watch had been trashed when I was hit by Shroud but someone he had managed to find another just in time for our wedding day. The red phoenix shined against the natural light. I opened it and found an inscription inside _Aster Phoenix and Zane Truesdale July 22nd. _Yet again, my fiancée never fails to amaze me.

"Zane bought that? It's incredible." I didn't feel like explaining Rissa the entire story behind the watch. In a way, it was better for me to silently appreciate the meaning behind it.

"What about something blue?" Sirena asked. I smiled—well, some things I just plain kept to myself.

"I've got it covered—we have a limo to meet."

**Zane's POV **

When I was told that Aster had arrived, my father (who had been placed in charge of getting the groomsmen together) pulled me aside.

"Where's Atticus? I can't find him." He whispered into my ear. I rolled my eyes; really, on my wedding day? I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.

"Where the hell are you?" I asked. It was silent for a moment and then he answered.

"Did you know that there was a secret room in this place? Yusuke and I didn't."

The pinched the bridge of my nose—reminding myself that I would have been more surprised If Atticus hadn't tried this. "My fiancée is here so please come to the archway—and make yourself presentable."

I flipped my phone closed and handed it to my father. He shook his head as he placed it in his pocket. "I didn't know making sure three grown men got their act together would be like watching two small children all over again."

I shrugged. "Atticus tends to make things difficult."

Alexis and Sirena walked in arm and arm, Larius following them wearing his white shirt, black vest and tie. "Are you guys ready?"

"As soon as your brother gets out here." I said with a sigh. "Do I look nervous?"

Alexis smiled and adjusted my white tie. My suit jacket and pants were both black but my vest and tie were white. So we went a little crazy with the white and black theme. "You look like a guy who's about to be married… are you nervous?" I nodded and Alexis laughed, slapping my arm. "Don't be, If Atticus going MIA is the biggest problem so far, I think we're doing great."

"Sorry!" Atticus said adjusting his tie as he ran up; a blush spread across his face. It was hard to feel sorry for him considering my bachelor party. My father just flashed him a look of I-don't-want-to-know. "Are we ready to start?"

About as ready as we were going to be. My father called my mother in and we signaled for Alba to begin the wedding. The quartet we had hired began the wedding march song. I made the long trip down the aisle with my parents following arms linked behind me. After we reached the end I watched as Atticus and Alexis walked down the aisle together. Atticus waved to Yusuke just as he reached the end—again, I would have been more surprised if he didn't do it.

Sirena and Larius trekked down the aisle next. You would have thought that for as much time as she had spent in a kimono, Sirena would have been just fine in a dress. Apparently, that wasn't the case. Thankfully, Larius caught her every time she tripped. I had to wonder if maybe the tripping was a sign of protest against being forced to wear the dress. After that, Syrus made the lone walk down the aisle, holding a pillow with two rings on it. It took some argument on my part to get Syrus to agree to this—but it was kind of funny to see him squirm under the attention. After he took his place the wedding changed and I took a deep breath. This was it.

Aster stepped across the archway and smiled when his eyes found me. My breathing ceased for a quick, un-noticeable second. Not so much at the sight of my fiancée (though as usual, he was quite nice to look at) but at the idea that we were finally doing this. Until this point it had been only speculation and planning—now that he was there in a white tuxedo with Sartorius escorting him down the aisle. I couldn't help but feel like I was going to have a heart-attack at the excitement.

Alright so— relax. Take another deep breath. He's almost here now.

"You alright?" Aster asked when he had reached the end. And just like that, it all stopped. I was calm—relaxed even. Okay, panic attack averted. "You're not going to faint at the altar are you?"

Smiling back at my groom, I took his hand and lead him away from Sartorius. Sartorius offered me a nod of respect before taking his place at the side. Aster and I face each other as the music stopped. Alba cleared her throat and began the ceremony.

"I'd like welcome everyone on behalf of the grooms and their families to the joining of these two young men. I'd like to begin, if I may, with a quote by William Shakespeare regarding love—'_Love sought is good, but given unsought is better'. _This is especially true for these young men—who were enemies in the dueling ring long before they had fallen in love."

"At this time, I must ask—if anyone objects to this union. Speak now, or forever hold your peace." The room was silent. I kept my eye on Atticus, who was most likely to make a prank out of this—but he remained silent and in fact gave me an encouraging smile. No one objected. "Good then we'll proceed; now the couple has written their own vows which they will now share—Zane would you like to begin?"

My mind had remembered my vows carefully—it was just stating them that was the problem. I opened and closed my mouth several times before forcing myself to just say it. "Aster, when I entered this world, I entered it alone. And I thought I was destined to be alone. And after awhile—I was content with that. It was ideal to be honest. I didn't need anyone, and no one needed me."

"But at the risk of being really sappy, and believe me, it's going to sound sappy—but I realized I could never be alone again after getting to know you. I wanted you and I wanted to know everything about you. I wanted to know what it felt like to wake up beside you, and to fall asleep just the same. So in return for that—I offer you my entire being, my soul, and anything else you ask of me; sorry, it's all I have to offer. But I hope it will be enough to keep you by my side every morning and every night for the rest of our lives."

He laughed under his breath but not just because my vows had in fact, been sappy. But because he looked like he would cry if he didn't laugh instead. "Aster?" Alba asked. He nodded and spoke loudly.

"When you first asked me to marry you, I thought you had gone crazy. You and I were many types of people, but the marrying type? That's not us. We're the type who live in the moment and cast tradition in the wind. We'd rather be logical and free than ignorant and safe. We aren't maternal, paternal, or domestic people—we're just us. Simple and plain."

His smile grew. "But then I realized that marrying you wouldn't be the end—it'd be the beginning. Together we could have so many adventures and they would matter because I would be with you. It was a chance for me to have the family I've always wanted. So I give you the rest of my life; so that I can know true and fulfilling happiness."

After a moment or so of silence, Alba spoke up. "Thank you both… Now then, Zane, do you take Aster to be your lawfully wedded husband? For better or worse? Through sickness and health? For now and always until death do you part?"

"I do."

"And Aster, do you take Zane to be your lawfully wedded husband? For better or worse? Through sickness and health? For now and always until death do you part?"

"I do."

Alba motioned for Syrus to bring the rings forward. I was impressed that my brother had managed to deliver them without accident (my brother just happened to be the clumsiest person I knew). I took the ring I had picked for Aster and encased it inside my fist. He did the same with the ring he picked for me. "These rings are a sign of your never-fading, ever growing love. They are a reminder of the vow you took this day, to be true to one another and to forsake all others. To love and hold only one another as long as you are bonded in matrimony. The promise you have made to each other is not to be taken lightly, for as long as these rings are on your fingers, you are there for bonded into the sacred promise of marriage… Zane, repeat after me… With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring….I three wed." My voice was low as I slipped the ring on to his finger. I looked down at the ring that marked Aster as my husband. I was proud of it. I was ecstatic that it was there. I wouldn't have it anywhere else.

Alba turned to Aster. "Aster, repeat after me…With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed." The ring slipped onto my finger; it felt like it had always been there.

"Then in the power invested in me, I now pronounce you partners in life. You may now kiss the groom." The minute Alba stated that, Aster and I embraced one another and pressed our lips together. The kiss wasn't as sensual as they usually were, but it was just as warm and breath-taking as they always were. After a moment or so we broke away from each other, and I set my eyes for the first time on my husband. "Ladies and Gentlemen, let me be the first to present Zane Truesdale and Aster Phoenix as married!"

We turned to our friends and family; all of them standing and clapping. My hand entwined with his as we took a quick glance at one another.

Let the adventures of marriage begin.


	4. The Reception

Black and White

Plot Summary- Aster and Zane tie the knot, but when anything can go wrong, it tends to.

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh Gx or its characters. Or any of the songs mentioned in this fic.

Chapter 4: The Reception

**Zane's POV**

After the ceremony, Aster and I accepted blessing from all our guests. The more closely related family members (pretty much all of my relatives) came up first, followed by our friends and distant relatives. Among this group was the recently-turned 18 year old Louisa Duncan, whom I introduced to my ecstatic mother for the first time. Echo, who had brought a date with her to the wedding (not Adrian much to Aster's relief). And Layla with a man I assumed to be her husband, Harvey Reed. For an awkward moment, I had to explain to Aster just how I had come across Layla again. He didn't seem mad—in fact, I think he was more with Atticus than anyone else.

"I think Atticus needs to be punished." Aster said in a low voice as we were walking out of the church. Our reception was outside where a D.J. stage was set up as well as a buffet dinner. For once, no one was trying to pull me away to look at something, or asking Aster his opinion on an insignificant wedding decoration. People allowed—and even expected us to be together.

I nodded in agreement. "But the question is how?"

"Not now." He stated simply, resting his arm through mine. "We'll get him after the honeymoon... when he's not suspecting it."

"I never realized you were so devious."

"Well, no one messes with my husband and gets away with it." The name rolled off the tongue so easily, it was almost like he had been waiting for months to address me as such. And to be honest, for all my nervous energy, I loved the way the word sounded.

During dinner speeches were made on our behalf. Sartorius went into a short but sweet speech about how much he loved and cared for Aster as a childhood friend. However, just when I thought the speech was over, Sartorius added something else.

"I also wanted to say something about Aster's father…Silas Phoenix, who passed away ten years ago." Aster's eyes widened at the mention of his father—I guess he hadn't been expecting this. "I never knew him in person but from what Aster has said to me, and what I have seen in my own research—he would have been very proud of his son and would have welcomed Zane into his family with open arms. I'm sorry you'll never get the chance to hear him say it in person but…Just know that it's true."

Aster smiled and mouthed a thank you to his old friend. Sartorius smiled back and took his seat again. Syrus was too nervous to speak on behalf of my best man so…Who better to do it than Atticus. Mainly, he talked about all the stuff we did as teenagers and made a few jokes at our expense…but unexpectedly, he actually said something kind of heart-warming.

"The cool thing about Zane and Aster is, well… Let's face facts, the world has been less than kind to both of them, but have they ever given up? Nope. They stand up, stronger than they were before. I mean, come on, how many times have they spit in the face of death? They're going to give this thing all they have and I know they'll make it because hey, separately, they're a force of their own reckoning. But together they can do anything, and not hell or high water can stop them…"

"Now then, where's the D.J.? It's time to get this party started and we can't get on the dance floor until the grooms have danced!" Atticus's last comment was accompanied by cheers and clapping. Well, who were we to deny the crowd?

We stood up and made our way to the temporary dance floor. Aster and I weren't great dancers—in fact, we had told each other time and time again that this would probably be the only time we'd dance. But a slow dance seemed easy enough—I took his left hand into my right one and wrapped my free arm around his body. He rested his right hand on my shoulder. We remained still until the music started—_Look After You _by The Fray.

_**If I don't say this now I will surely break  
As I'm leaving the one I want to take  
Forgive the urgency but hurry up and wait  
My heart has started to separate**_

Oh, oh,  
Be my baby  
Ohhhhh  
Oh, oh  
Be my baby  
I'll look after you  


Aster looked up so that he could speak to me face to face. "So, I now own the soul of Zane Truesdale…I wonder what I should do with it."

"Not a whole lot of it left." I told him with an amused tone. "But yeah, it's all yours now."

Aster laughed. "You know, you're lucky I'm already in love with you…You market yourself terribly."

_**There now, steady love, so few come and don't go  
Will you won't you, be the one I'll always know  
When I'm losing my control, the city spins around  
You're the only one who knows, you slow it down**_

Oh, oh  
Be my baby  
Ohhhhhh  
Oh, oh  
Be my Baby  
I'll look after you  
And I'll look after you

"Don't look now, but your mom is tearing up." Aster said as he glanced behind me. We turned so I could see that my mom was in fact crying at the sight of Aster and I.

"She does that. You should have seen her when she met Louisa. I think she was just happy to meet a sane Duncan."

"Ssssh, no talking about crazy relatives at our wedding." He whispered into my ear like a divine secret. "It's our day."

_**If ever there was a doubt  
My love she leans into me  
This most assuredly counts  
She says most assuredly**_

Oh, oh  
Be my baby  
I'll look after you  
After You  
Oh, oh  
Be my baby  
Ohhhhh

"We're getting a mixed review actually; how many people do you think have attended a gay wedding?" I said, letting my hand fall behind his neck. "A lot of my cousins uncomfortable. My guess is they've never seen two men dance together before."

"And since when have you cared about what other people think?" Aster asked, closing his eyes at the comfort of the new touch.

I shrugged. "I don't… Honestly, it's more amusing than anything else."

"Good, because I don't think we're ever going to stop getting looks." He spoke calmly. "After all, if two years ago, someone had told me I would be getting married to you—I would have given them a similar look"

"Good point." I said with a laugh.

_**It's always have and never hold  
You've begun to feel like home  
What's mine is yours to leave or take  
What's mine is yours to make your own**_

The dance was so calm and relaxed—it felt like the entire world was at peace. At least on the outside it did. On the inside, I could feel the emotions swirl and crash between us. Both of us perhaps believing it to be too good to be true. But dreams could never be so vivid—so happy.

"I love you…" I found myself whispering.

He opened his eyes and looked up—looking more tranquil then a sleeping baby. "I love you too."

The words had been exchanged so often, yet they had never once lost their meaning. From the first moment we said them, we continued to do so and now would until the day we both died. Not only that—we would show and feel it every day as well.

And I looked forward to every moment—hell, I needed it. _**  
**_

_**Oh, oh  
Be my baby  
Ohhhhh  
Oh, oh  
Be my baby  
I'll look after you**_

The end of the music was over-whelmed by applause. Broken from our bubble, Aster and I bowed and removed ourselves from the dance floor. Atticus then proudly declared—that it was time to party.

**Aster's POV**

Other various wedding traditions proceeded after the first dance. Zane and I were then forced to cut the cake and feed it to each other. We then served it to all our guests before another—less thrilling for me anyway—tradition came up.

"Okay single ladies!" Atticus shouted into the microphone. Since when did he become the MC of this wedding? "It's time for the… white-wearing groom to throw his corsage! So get your asses out there before there's hell to pay."

I rolled my eyes and had Zane help me unpin the corsage. I walked back to the dance floor. Alexis, Sirena, Echo, Louisa, and Blair Flannigan were among the people I recognized. There were a few people I figured to be Zane's relatives and others that I figured must have worked under me at some point. I turned away. "Ready?"

"Just throw it!" An impatient Blair yelled. I tossed the corsage behind me and turned to see the group grabbing for it—surprisingly, Sirena reigned victorious.

She blushed as Alexis wrapped an arm around her. I grinned—did I see wedding bells in their foreseeable future? Well… Honestly, probably not. Sirena wasn't a huge supporter of traditional marriage and Alexis seemed too free-spirited for the ideals of marriage. Then again, both arguments could have been used for Zane and I.

"And now!" Atticus said just as I was about to step off the dance floor. I peered around to see that a chair was being placed by Jaden with a smile. Oh—joy—it's time for that tradition. "It's time for the groom in black to feel up—I mean, take off the garder off the white groom."

I thought maybe Zane would feel some kind of embarrassment—instead, he looked happy. I guess I could blame that on a week of abstinence. Well, if that's how he wanted it.

"Alright then." I said flatly. I walked over to the chair, but didn't sit on it. Instead, I put my right leg up on the chair and offered my baffled husband a grin. "Come get it."

Zane fought to keep his cool—he strode over and kneeled down on one knee. His hand drifted up and under the fabric of my pants—causing more howls and whistles from our friends than I would have cared for. His hand deliberately went over the lacy fabric—I've never seen him so content to be a pervert in front of our friends.

"Hmmm, it should be here somewhere…"He said, pretending to be confused. I rolled my eyes. "But where?"

His touches were giving me goose bumps. Okay, so it's been a long week for me too. "Get it off now, unless you want to give these people a show they'll never forget."

He pretended to consider it and laughed. He pulled the garder off and raised it up for all to see. I put my leg down, trying to hide my blush. Zane watched me with a burning look as he twirled the garder around his fingers. The single men filed their way to the dance floor. Atticus sprung off the stage and ran to the front—determined to be the one who catches it.

"Come on Zane! Over here!" Atticus yelled. Zane sling-shot the garder into the crowd of single men. There was significantly less argument than there was for the corsage. Unexplainably, Chazz had ended up with the garder. Syrus paled at the sight and quickly scurried away from the group. Chazz, with a panicked look on his face threw it to Atticus and followed Syrus. "Yes! Look Zane! Yusuke and I are the next to get married!"

"Actually Atti, tradition says that you and Sirena would be getting married." Yusuke explained, wrapping his arms around Atticus. His boyfriend gave him a confused look.

"But…she's a girl…So we're going to pretend you caught the corsage."

After that little episode, everyone continued to dance on the dance floor. Zane and I watched and made conversation with our guests. We didn't spend a lot of time alone, but we were never apart for a moment, which was nice enough for the time being.

The wedding eventually started dying down. People were thanking us and starting to leave. After enough people left, we started cleaning up the place. This was the first time my new husband and I had been separated since the ceremony. When I asked around for him, Atticus said that Blair had pulled him off to the side—and that Louisa was going to speak to him shortly after.

"Oh okay…" I said with a sigh. The reception was almost packed for the most part. The chairs and tables were being loaded, the leftover food was packed and donated to local charities, the D.J. had been paid, and the garbage had been kept to a minimum. All we were really waiting for was the dance floor to be taken apart and sent back to the entertainment company it came from. "Well, we're almost done anyway…"

"And then it's off to your honeymoon, right?" Atticus said a little too excitedly while waving the garder in his hand.

"I knew I should have skipped that tradition… And actually, we're spending the night at the hotel and leaving tomorrow morning for our honeymoon."

"Well, you're still going to do what my sister calls the maritals, right?" I was about to tell Atticus that it was none of his business, when my husband returned from his conversations. He looked about how I felt—tired and ready to rest.

"Hey Hero, I asked Syrus if he could make sure the dance floor is taken care of so… We go ahead and go back to our hotel." He said wrapping an arm around me. Atticus clicked his tongue, to which I rolled my eyes.

"Great, let's go before Atticus wants to come with us." Atticus gave me a strange look and put his hands on his hips.

"I wouldn't want to come watch you guys do it… I'll just go find Yusuke, and rock my own socks off." Damn, that wasn't a metal picture I needed. "You two have fun though… In Jesse's words, have lots of careless, renewed love sex!"

"What?" I said suddenly, Zane just turned me around and walked me away. I couldn't miss the mixed look of terror and humor.

"Never mind, let's just get out of here."

()

"Finally..." I relaxed across the hotel bed and sighed. My aching muscles were crying out in relief as I stretched. I was even having an inward battle as to whether or not I wanted to change into something more comfortable.

Before I could resolve it, Zane crawled over me, pressing his lips to my neck and then nuzzled my chin afterwards.

I half-groaned, half-chuckled. "You're in the mood now?"

"Aster, I've been in the mood for days now—you can't expect me to wait another night." He said with hunger as he attacked my lips. Well, he was making it difficult to say no.

"But aren't you exhausted? Or even tired or…." His lower body grinded against mine and that was all the convincing I needed. I kissed him back; nipping at his lips and tugging at his jacket.

After forcing the jacket off, I moved us so that his head was resting against the pillows and so I was on top. I pulled away so that I could take off my own jacket.

"Are you ready to make love with your husband for the first time?" When he didn't answer, I looked down on him. "Zane?"

I couldn't believe my eyes—he was fast asleep! Looking so calm and peaceful that I wasn't sure if I should be aggravated or moved. I sighed—well; I guess it was better to wait until tomorrow.

I kissed his forehead and got off of him and got myself ready for bed. When I returned, I got under the covers. Zane stirred for a moment before muttering. "Wait…did I miss something?"

"No, but you should probably change out of your suit." I whispered, feeling the effects of sleep pull me down. He sighed and got up to change and brush his teeth. I was half asleep when he returned and got himself under the covers. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close. The warm embrace of my husband was enough to make me fall asleep.

"We'll make up for it tomorrow..." He whispered into my ear. I smiled and brought his hand closer to my face.

"Oh believe me, we'll make up for it and more—I love you."

And just before the world went black, I heard. "I love you too."


	5. The Honeymoon part 1

Black and White

Plot Summary- Aster and Zane tie the knot, but when anything can go wrong, it tends to.

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh Gx or its characters. Or any of the songs mentioned in this fic.

Chapter 5: The Honeymoon Part 1

**Aster's POV**

We left late the next morning for our plane to Switzerland. I was ecstatic when Zane suggested we go snowboarding for our honeymoon. Aside from dueling, snowboarding was a huge passion of mine before my persistent work schedule and injuries took control of my life. It had been almost two years since I had indulged in my favorite sport so yeah, I was defiantly on board.

It was only about a two hour flight, followed by a forty-five minute car ride to the resort. Zane had decided to let me drive under his watchful guidance. It was stressful considering how tense Zane got about my driving but we eventually made it to the chalet we'd be staying at on the resort.

The chalet really looked no different than a beach house covered in snow. It was a three story place with lots of large windows and a deck over-looking the landscape. In the past when I've been on snowboarding trips, I've always stayed at hotels and ski lodges. But just from first impressions—the hotel didn't hold a candle.

The inside was even better. I walked into a huge room with a spiral black stair case. I could see a nice leather couch in the living room and a silver modern-looking kitchen on my right. I dropped my bags by the floor and removed my gloves. Not that they did a lot of good anyway—my hands were cold as death.

"You okay? You're shaking." He asked me. I shrugged it off and pulled my coat off.

"It's just been a few years since I've been around the cold—I guess my body isn't as up to date as it use to be." I shook my head and wrapped my arm around myself. "God, I'm only eighteen and I'm falling apart."

"Well, Hero, you have been through a lot in the past year—the hit and run, the benumbing agent. What hasn't happened to your body in the past year?" I felt an extra layer of warmth wrap around me—my husband was embracing me. "Besides, I happen to be a big fan of your body."

"I'd hope so since you married it." I put my arms around him and held him close. It was true—I must have been a masochist to be able to push through as much pain as I had endured. My first real year of adulthood had been far from easy, and it wasn't even over yet. Most people were sane enough to walk away from something so dangerous—but I had always been the kind of person who enjoyed a little danger. And even if Zane was bad for my health—he made me happy enough to accept the consequences. I guess that's the only rationalization I could make for marrying someone at 18.

It worked for me.

"Hey, I've got a few calls to make…Why don't you go take a bath?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You're going to call people on our honeymoon?"

He grinned and leaned forward to whisper in my ear. "Just a few. And then I'm all yours to do with as you please….or if you prefer, as I please."

I shivered—and despite Zane's best guess, it wasn't from the cold. "Alright, but you swear you're not going to call anyone after I'm done?"

"I wouldn't dream of it." He said pulling himself away from me and walking towards the stairway. I picked up the bag with our bathroom stuff and my clothes. "The bathroom down here is across the living room. I'm going to the bedroom. Come find me when you're done…"

He made it sound like a suggestion—a sexy, playful suggestion. But in my head, it was almost a necessity. I made my way to the bathroom and filled the tub with extremely hot water. After soaking myself into it—for the first time I was allowed to ponder everything. I brought my ring out of the water and glanced at it thoughtfully.

There were things about me that a ring would never change. For one thing, I would always be an orphan—that much was obvious but having no one from my family at the wedding reminded me that… I didn't have any family. My dad had been the last shred of blood relation (at least close enough for me to know) I had in this world. And it didn't stop me from being who I was—I considered myself an intelligent, loner kind of person. Before I met Jaden I had maybe two friends to my name—and it suited me fine. I wasn't afraid of living my life alone; I didn't think I was terrified of it now.

But the ring had changed me. I had a family now—a legal connection to someone in this world. And that made me far happier than I cared to admit. I had always insisted that my dad was the only family I needed in this world; and if he couldn't be there than everyone else be damned. And then without my knowledge—I had let someone become what I forbade. It changed my desires—suddenly, I didn't want to be alone. I wanted to wake up every day knowing someone would be there with me. I wanted the pleasant conversations, warm embraces, and support that a relationship turned marriage could provide.

And now that I had it? Well… I was nervous. What if I couldn't hold on to it? I never considered myself a person to give up but really what romantic experience did I have outside of Zane? None. What if we got bored with one another in a few years? Almost worse, what if he got bored of me while I was still interested in him? I could push through it if I had to but I didn't want to think about the heartbreak that would cause. Was I just paranoid to be thinking about this when we had been married for less than 24 hours?

Maybe—but this was different. Before, it was no skin off my back if someone walked out of my life. I could get on just fine on my own. Nine months had changed that. The thought of losing Zane was as painful as getting burned or stabbed. And I'd do anything to prevent if it was within reasonable power.

These thoughts continued as I lifted myself from the tub and dried off. I brushed my hair, cleaned my teeth, and applied light cologne before changing into a loose long-sleeved v-neck blue shirt (it might have been Zane's since the sleeves literally cover my hands) and some jeans. I picked up my bag and made my way up the stairs, looking for the master bedroom. "Zane? I'm finished with my shower."

I saw one door was left open just a crack—it must have been the master bedroom. I pushed on the door, listening as an obviously-frustrated Zane carried on.

"Because Atticus, just because it works for you and Yusuke, doesn't mean it will work for Aster and I…" I stopped for a moment, raising an eyebrow at the current conversation. Did I really want to know what this was about? "I'm not wearing the shirt! Mesh? Seriously? Did you rip it off some goth kid in a club?"

"And I'm not sure if I want to know where you got the leather from…" When he said that, my teeth caught the bottom of my lip. "Well, it's the only thing I did decide to wear. No, I'm not using the handcuffs! Because there's a fine line between metal and fuzzy, and I don't think I'm ready to cross that line."

I pushed the door all the way open. For someone who barely acknowledged sex over a year ago; I certainly couldn't keep my head pure. Zane had one knee pressed against the king-sized bed as he leaned over. His shoulder balanced his cell phone against his ear as his hands were busy lighting a candle—the last of many. In fact, the candles were the only light in the room—the curtains were drawn and the chandelier in the room was off. A black robe was hanging loose and open—revealing one knee tightly bound by leather. I wasn't a bondage, leather, or dominatrix kind of guy—it just didn't do it for me. But the skin tight promise made my heart skip a beat—and my body react in ways that only Zane could make me react. His hair tied away from his face—a look I wasn't entirely use to since he barely even bothered with his hair most of the time.

The door knob slipped from my hand and slammed into the wall. I startled both myself and Zane back into reality. He looked over to me—then a smile crept across his lips. A wicked, dirty, smile. "Atticus, I've got to go. Yeah, yeah…..No! Bye Atti."

I barely paid attention as he set down the lighter and candle. The phone fell from his shoulder and into his hand as he pressed the end button. "How was your bath?"

"Um, what?" I finally muttered. Gah, I hated being a bumbling idiot. Especially in front of my husband. Oddly enough, he seemed to be the only person who could make me feel like one. He prowled across the bed and made his way over to me—like a tiger hunting his prey. "It was okay…I definitely smell better."

When he was close enough, he nuzzled his nose against my cheek. I shifted my cheek so he could move freely. "You do smell intoxicating. And you look good enough to eat."

My brain disconnected itself from my body—my hands acted on their own. They started pulling the robe from his body. He lifted his head and pressed his lips against mine. I could vaguely recall the second time we kissed (the first one was a drunken memory too far away to really remember or enjoy). The sensations had been gigantic. Too great and powerful for me to resist. In the course of the year, this feeling never faded. Even now, being kissed by Zane felt like being brought back to life.

When it ended, I took a glance around the room. Silk black sheets—candles? "Is this another one of your attempts to be romantic?"

"Is it working?"

I gave him a cocky grin—now that I had my body back in control, I was ready to play. "Well, to be honest, it looks like you're trying too hard. I mean, wasn't the point of marrying me so you can have sex with me without trying to impress me?"

The breath of his chuckled landed against my cheek. "Well, I guess there's some truth in that. But…" His tongue flicked against my lips before he ran it over them. I sighed contently and found myself pressing my body further against is. "If I don't keep you interested, what would make you come back?"

His smile, his scent, the smell of his breath—dealers choice. Nothing on earth could possibly keep me—

Wait, wasn't this the very thing I was so afraid of? That now that we were married the excitement would disappear? The idea was becoming almost ridiculous now. Really I mean, how many times has Zane surprised me like this? How many times have I done so with him? Once our attraction had begun, it had been far from boring. In fact, if anything, it had been a little too crazy at time, but intriguing all the same.

Besides, it was more than the physical attraction that made me love him. If that were the case, I would have fallen for him the moment we met. No—I loved Zane because he was perfectly human. He was intelligent—always ready with a joke or a deep observation. He was kind but willful—he was ready to help someone who needed it but wouldn't hesitate to defend himself or the people he loved. He was calm and collected—but passionate too. It was true that at times Zane was far from perfect—he was damaged both physically and emotionally. But so was I… We all were. And he loved me even knowing I was damage—and I loved him all the same.

How could I ever be bored with someone I wasn't even sure I could live without?

"Hold on…" I said, pressing a hand against him to move him away from the door. "Since you're working so hard to knock me off my feet, I think it's only fair I reward you."

With a cocky smirk I walked over to the stereo alarm clock beside the bed. Zane had a few c.d.'s out for us to play while we…played. I picked up one Eric Clapton c.d. and smiled, putting that into the player. "Keep in mind; I'm missing a few things…So you'll have to be a substitute."

He gave me a peculiar look as I walked back over to him. I entwined my fingers with his left hand lifted it over his head. "While you do what exactly?"

"Pole dance…."

**Zane's POV**

"Pole dance?" My voice gave out at the end. The music switched on and my partner spun himself once and grazed his body against mine. The fast paced music provided a rhythm that was difficult—but manageable to keep up with. His grace and prowl never failed to amaze me.

His cheek graze against mine as his free hand trailed down my chest. "It was Jaden's doing. He had this man named Jason come in and teach me how to pole dance. At first I was against but after a few drinks and a lesson, I actually kind of liked it…The instructor wasn't bad to look at either."

I growled for two reasons—one was because of the way my husband had placed his leg against my waist, which brought his lower body against mine. The other reason was the idea that anyone would ever take his attention. Okay, it was crazy to get possessive over something as miniscule as Aster finding a teacher attractive. This subject didn't tread lightly with me though. I had been cheated on once before, and when I found out about it, it hurt like hell. And even if the circumstances were different and even if Aster was never serious about it—it made my gut turn just thinking about the possibility of losing him to another man.

Aster laughed and drew his tongue up my cheek. "Easy killer—I'm not going anywhere."

"Sure about that?" I joked as he started to grind his body against mine. Light groans escape my lips as his hand unbuttoned and unzipped my pants. I could barely breathe as he removed the remaining article of clothing from my body.

He twisted himself around and back up against me—making gentle, erotic movements with his hips. I grunted every time his body made contact with mine. I wasn't sure how much of this I could handle. My free hand landed on his hip and pulled him against me. I leaned down to tease his earlobe with my teeth.

"Where else would I be?" He gasped out, leaning his head away so I kiss my way down his neck. Our entwined hands fell down to his stomach. His movements stopped as I started to bite and nip at his neck. I was thrilled to know I had an eternity of this to look forward to.

I freed my hand from his and turned him to face me. Aster gave me a stunned look before I leaned down to wrap my arms around his legs and lifted him over my shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?" He said in between laughter. I couldn't help but laugh along with him as I gently tossed him against the bed.

"No more teasing. I've gone an entire week without you." I pressed my body over his and started pulling off what remained of his clothing. "Now it's time we do what married people do…"

()

"So….Atticus was the important phone call you had to make earlier?" Aster's voice was heavy and strained. He was still grasping for air from our love making. I myself was still reeling from it. My hands hovered over his skin—as if to make sure he was still there.

"Well, one of them." I said, one hand finally resting against his flushed cheek. The sun was just starting to set—the light glimmered off his pale skin. That along with the after-glow of our activities made Aster look breath-taking. He always did. "I called Blair and Louisa too."

"Atticus said they had both talked to you after the reception." Aster said, leaning up on his elbow and leaning towards me in interest. "Is something going on?"

I couldn't help but wonder if this was really the time to tell him. I had wanted to wait until we got home but why bother? He was interested, and it wasn't anything bad. "Louisa and Blair both want me to coach them."

"Really?" He asked; appearing genuinely surprised. "I thought Louisa was going to do some things in the European League. And I thought Blair was still in school."

I leaned up so I could be eye level with my husband. "Louisa wants me to coach her in the European league. It'd be a kind of long distance kind of thing until she transfers into our league. And Blair graduated this year, so she's actually going to be making her premier soon and she wanted me to be her coach. So…we'd start after our honeymoon."

Aster narrowed his eyes in confusion. I guess I could understand it. I had already made a set of plans for after our honeymoon. I was going to consult a doctor and find out more about that medication Ronny had given me. Even if it was addicting—now that I had my life together, I felt better equipped to handle it. Then after a little while of getting use to the medicine and building my strength up, I could maybe consider coming out of retirement and returning to the duel circuit.

It would be difficult to work on my own career if I was boasting the career of two young girls.

I leaned over and kissed him on the lips—offering him a smile when I broke it. "It's going to be hectic for awhile I know. And I'm not sure where their career is going to end and where mine – If I'll even be able to have one again—will begin. But Blair and Louisa deserve this chance—and if I can play a part in it then…even my career fails, I'll be happy knowing I helped them get somewhere."

After a moment or so of thought, Aster smiled. He wrapped and arm around me and embraced me. "If that's what you want then— god help you and those girls."

I chuckled and held him close. Feeling content, and feeling happy. For the first time in a long time, my life was stable and happy. I had a plan that was bound to go right for me, the promise of a new career, and a loving partner to provide me with never ending support. I was better than content, I was completely ecstatic.

And this was just the first night of the honeymoon.

Hey guys! Big apologies for how long it took to post this! A merge of writers block and starting school back up. Still have a few more chapters coming up. Thanks to all the readers for being patient!


	6. The Honeymoon part 2

Black and White

Plot Summary- Aster and Zane tie the knot, but when anything can go wrong, it tends to.

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh Gx or its characters. Or any of the songs mentioned in this fic.

Chapter 6: The Honeymoon Part 2

**Zane's POV**

"So how much experience do you have at this, exactly?" He asked while tightening the straps of my snowboard. He checked both my feet several times, indicating that he knew exactly how inexperienced I was, despite my protests that I could handle the intermediate hill.

Years ago, when I was about ten, my parents had taken my brother on a ski/snowboarding trip in the states. I had fallen my share of times but managed to improve during my time with Sheppard on the snow mountain. Never the less, I was far from the professional Aster claimed to be. My pride of course, couldn't tell him that so I had negotiated for him to board with me on the intermediate hill. That being said, I never realized just how big the intermediate hill was compared to the bunny hill.

"I've had a few runs." Aster gave me a sideways glance.

"You're not trying to make me a widower already, are you?"

I laughed as he helped me stand straight on my snow board. "It's not my intention. I can handle it, hero, don't worry about it."

He bit his lip as if reconsidering. I might have done the same if I didn't know how much the beginner hill would bore him. And being away from him didn't seem right while we were on our honeymoon. No, my main goal was to keep him happy this trip—so if that meant taking a few spills, so be it. I just hated how much love tended to down play common sense.

"Remember to keep your knees bent and open. Watch out for obstacles, too." Aster placed his goggles over his eyes and shot me a glare. "If I find out that you're putting yourself in danger for my sake, I will kill you—providing this mountain doesn't."

With that he twisted his board to point towards the slope. I gave him an encouraging smile as he sent himself down the mountain. He broke his own rules at first—looking tense and unsure. But about half way down he had loosened up. I think I even heard him laugh. After all the things he had almost lost, I'm glad he didn't lose this either.

It was my turn now. I followed his moves and bounced closer to the hill. With impressive courage, I swallowed down my pride and went flying down the hill.

My speed picked up quickly, but I managed to keep control of my board. I breathed a steady rhythm and used my past training to get me down the hill. The adrenaline rush was pure bliss the moment it set in. It was like winning a huge gamble or taking a breath of fresh air after nearly drowning. The feeling was almost painful but it felt good all the same.

At least until I was near the bottom. I had become too buried in my high emotions. The screaming of my husband brought me back to reality. "Zane, are you listening! Break now!"

I shook my head. I was almost completely down the hill and I was still going fast. I wasn't thinking—if I had been, I would have known better than to jump my board to the side. It stopped the lower half of my body; jerking the upper half forward and robbing me of my balance. I was falling and there was nothing I could do about it. I raised my arm so it would take must of the blow. I rolled over and lost most train of thought after that. I was too distracted by the cracking sound my arm made and the shooting pain that followed.

I must have slid to the bottom, because Aster was by my side in a matter of moments. "Zane?"

"Ow, fuck!" I held close so I could try and nurse the pain away. Aster pulled it away from my body and held it straight out. I hissed and muttered more profanity.

As he examined my arm, his concern seemed to fade away under a veil of anger. "This was why I asked you if you handle the hill, dumbass!"

"I was doing fine—I just got caught up in the moment."

"You should have been paying attention!" I hissed as he bent my arm up and down slowly. This sucked enough and frankly, his lecture was pissing me off. This wasn't an effect of my inexperience. This happened because I had let my emotions get the better of me—something he of all people should have understood. "I don't think it's broken, or if you did, it was a small break. You should still see the medic, but I think it's just sprained."

"Just? I'm howling in pain and you think it's 'just' a god damn sprain? I think I'd rather take a professionals opinion."

He straightened my arm back up and glowered at me. I fought off the screech of pain crawling up my throat. "You're lucky I know how painful this is—it's your stupidity that got you into this mess so don't be a jackass about it." With a sigh, he wrapped his other arm around me. "Can you walk to the clinic? It's not far from here but if anything else got hurt…"

"No…" I murmured quietly. The weight of my words became clear to me. Was Aster being a little too over-bearing about this? Yes. Was it fair of me to take it out on him, especially since it was my fault? No. I may have very well ruined our honeymoon with my outburst. "No, nothing else got hurt. Yes, I can walk."

It was true, nothing else got hurt—except perhaps my husband's feelings.

()

"Wonderful." I murmured as I held the pill bottle in my hand. It wasn't strong pain medication for as Aster predicted, my arm had been badly sprained, not broken. It was just something to help me get through the next couple of days as my arm healed in the sling. I popped open the bottle with my unrestrained hand and took two pills dry. Aster entered the kitchen, fresh and clean from his shower.

"Hey…Here let me get that." He said as he grabbed the pill bottle and cap from my hand. As skilled as I had become at popping the tops off—putting bottle caps back on was difficult with one hand, so I allowed it. That and I still felt horribly guilty for what I had said to him earlier. He set the bottle on the counter and sighed. "We should probably just go home. You can't snowboard with your arm like that and we'll get bored just sitting around here."

The defeated tone in his voice made me frown. I owed more than this. All I had wanted was to spend time with him on our honeymoon and now I had almost ruined it. But I refused to let it be done with. He deserved better. _We_ deserved better. "Aster, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I was irritable and in pain but… I deserved everything you told me. It was dumb of me to get distracted on a hill I probably shouldn't have been on in the first place and that's no excuse for hurting you."

"No it isn't." Aster agreed. Unexpectedly, he carefully wrapped an arm around my good side. I gratefully hugged him back. "But you made a mistake and it was no excuse for me to belittle you. So I'm sorry too. I should know better than to do that since I hate being lectured so much. It's just…"

When he didn't finish, I realized there was a deeper meaning to his anger today. It wasn't just that I had downplayed my experience—something else had bothered him. "It's just?"

He sighed and rested his chin on my shoulder. His blue eyes were filled with buried sorrow. "You could have died today. For all the joking you and I did, you could have been seriously injured or killed…and once again, the person I loved most in the world would have been ripped away from me."

Like his dad was. I slouched my shoulders and moved my hand to stroke his face. The fact of the matter was one day I would die—and all things considering; it would probably be my time before it was Aster's. And while I was perfectly fine with that, it never once occurred to me that it would be Aster's biggest nightmare. The man in my arms had lost so many people at various times in his life I admired his ability to let yet another person in. And if I had died today, it may have torn apart the only person in the world I considered unbreakable.

"Aster, I'm sorry… I didn't think…"

"Of course you didn't—I didn't want you too." He said with a small smile. "I didn't want you to worry about me, and every time you've put your life in danger before for one thing or another has been something I would do too—so I've never felt the need to until now."

His hands rested on my shoulders, "Zane… I don't expect you to live forever or to give up your life style completely. That would be taking away everything I love about you. But for god sakes, when you feel like you can't do something, don't be an idiot and try it anyway. Just tell me you can't."

I gave him a cocky smirk. "But you know how I feel about admitting failure."

"You're my husband now." Aster replied with a simple shrug. "I'm more than happy to tell you when you've pushed your limits."

My hand moved to rub his back as I leaned down to kiss him. The first fight was officially of our marriage over and we were still going strong. Although there's plenty more to come, I'm sure.

**Aster's POV**

"The fuck?" Zane muttered from the bedroom. The bathroom lights had gone off and apparently, so had every other electronic in the house. I dropped the towel from my hair to my shoulders and walked out to the bedroom.

"What happened?" I asked rhetorically. It was obvious what had happened but I was more interested in what had caused it. The house was supposed to be chill proof, and as far as I knew the whether wasn't too bad.

"I don't know—I'm calling the lodge." Zane responded as he picked up his cell phone with his good hand. I put the towel in the hamper and picked a clean heavy sweater out of the suitcase. Something told me the power wasn't coming back any time soon.

And to confirm my suspicions. "One of the power towers overloaded. They say it's going to take a few days to fix it but they'll have the generator going by morning."

Great—we'd be human popsicles by then. "And what are we suppose to do?"

"Well, I think we should sleep in the living room tonight so we can be close to the fire place. I guess we'll just have to tough it out for the night."

It didn't take long for the temperature to start to drop. Fortunately, I was able to start a fire within minutes and brought our blankets and pillows downstairs. Zane helped carry what he could but there was only so much he could do with his arm.

"The whole world seems to be conspiring against us being happy." I noted as I fed another log to the fire. Flames gleefully engulfed the offering as I watched from my sitting position on the floor. Zane laughed as he lounged across the couch.

"I doubt the whole world is conspiring against us… I think we're more victims of circumstance."

"Whatever it is—it hates us." The fire managed to keep the edge of the cold off of me but I felt frozen in place. I smiled anyway. It didn't seem to matter that the power had gone out or that Zane had hurt himself. I was still enjoying myself. Most importantly, I was enjoying my husband.

Perhaps more chilling than the current temperature was the effect the darkness gave my husband. Even when he was completely calm and relaxed, he looked wicked and forbidden in the shadows. The fire flickered light against him but that didn't even keep my head from thinking about the sinful, darker side we both knew he possessed.

It was odd that for once I was enthralled by the way he use to be. Usually, I found his previous life of Hell Kaiser to be repulsive and painful. Every day, he and I carried the guilt that life had caused—me for creating him and Zane for living it. Regardless of how many times Zane had told me not to feel guilty—I always did.

But no matter how I thought about it or tried to deny it—Hell Kaiser would always be a part of him. And when I had married Zane, I had married Hell Kaiser too. So, why not enjoy the urges the darkness sent throughout me? Why not join the darkness with him?

"This isn't so bad." I said leaning my elbows back on the floor, allowing a grin to spread across my face. "You'd probably be warmer over here… _**A lot**_ warmer."

He understood immediately. His eyes became animal like as something that resembled a growl left his mouth. "Scolding I bet."

"Only one way to find out. That is…Unless you're afraid of a little fire." I challenged him. Challenges were kind of our thing. He eased himself forward on to the floor with his good arm. He managed to crawl over me and graze his teeth by my mouth. I was expecting another growl but instead, I got a chuckle. "What is it?"

"Did you shave today?" I frowned as I realized for the first time in... well ever, that I had not shaved that day. We hadn't left the house since Zane's injury and the power outage directed my attention away from it after my shower. I was use to occasionally finding Zane with stubble but it was never vice versa.

"I must have forgotten. Do you not like it?" I asked cautiously. It didn't escape me that Zane found me so attractive because I retained both masculine and feminine qualities.

He nuzzled my cheek. "I like it—it makes you seem older."

I laughed. "And to think, I was worried you like me being young too much… I was barely legal age for you after all when we started dating."

"You're legal and that's all that counts." Zane pulled away for a moment and detached his arm sling—freeing his sprained arm with a grunt. My mouth was open to object when he covered it with his own. Once again—one of us used physical attraction to get what we want.

As I had predicted, it had gotten hot. So hot that when all was said and done, I barely noticed had cold the house had become. The friction of our body heat and the roaring fire had kept away the chills and bad feelings away. And like Zane has guessed—it left a smoldering feeling in both of us.

"I love you…" Zane managed to breathlessly whisper in my ear. I turned over so I could face him and dragged my body closer to his. He smiled just as his lips barely touched mine. "You and the things you do to me."

"I love you too." I said back with a content sigh. "I could get use to doing this every day."

His lips drifted over my face and he kissed my forehead, brushing my hair away before adding. "I'm more than use to it… I look forward to it."

So did I. No matter whom my husband was, is, or will be—I would always fall asleep feeling more than happy to have him beside me. Through warm and cold weather.

()

"Are you sure?" I asked one more time from the top of the bunny hill. Zane rolled his eyes as he tightened the strap on his snowboard. The doctor officially gave the okay for him to take off his sling. He still advised Zane against snowboarding, but somehow my husband managed to talk me into taking a run on the bunny hill during the last day of our honeymoon.

"Yes, I'm sure. I just need to know that I can do it." He jumped up on to his board and offered me a reassuring grin. "Besides, with all the training I'll have with Louisa and Blair, not to mention my own career, it may be awhile before I'll get another chance to do this."

I guess he had a point. As moving as this whole trip had been, we had lives we needed to get back to. We both had very full lives to lead and while we had each other to lean on—they were our own projects. "Just remember to keep focused and to stay balanced. Oh… and don't break a bone."

"I didn't last time."

I let Zane go first this time so I could watch him. He sent himself down to hill with little or no trouble. He didn't seem as thrilled with it as he was last time, but I could hear him laughing as he reached the bottom. If his arm was still bothering him, he wasn't showing it.

I went down the hill next, and as I expected, it was far from challenging. That being said, I didn't seem to care at all. I was just happy that he was happy—that we were happy. For the first time ever, everything was perfect in my life. I had a career that I loved, no one trying to take it away, and a husband I could always count on as my home away from home. And I didn't dread the end of this vacation because I had these things to look forward to.

For the first time, I truly understood why people decided to get married in the first place. And I hope that I never lose sight of that reason.


	7. Happily Ever After?

Black and White

Plot Summary- Aster and Zane tie the knot, but when anything can go wrong, it tends to.

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh Gx or its characters. Or any of the songs mentioned in this fic.

Chapter 7: Happily Ever After?

**Aster's POV**

(A few days later)

I glanced at the clock just as it struck 8 o clock. Atticus was do here any moment and Zane not long after him. A bottle of very fine wine—a wedding present from one of my sponsors—lay in my hand.

It was so childish and evil that I wondered where the thunder was. I should have been more resistant to doing this but Atticus had practically asked for it when he dropped Layla literally into Zane's lap. I pulled off the cork with my teeth and took a swig right from the bottle. Why not? Half of it was being wasted anyway.

It was a shame really. It was sweet and gentle, so much so it practically glided down the drain. But we didn't have any more wine around the house and Atticus needed to be taught who he was dealing with. I pulled back and poured a little more wine into the glass. I swirled it for a minute before drinking a little more of that. Wasn't it odd that my first time in this apartment was when I was actually drunk on wine? Now here I was again, only this time sober enough to appreciate the sentiment. Then, I had been lost in this strange place—now it was home. I was almost sad that we'd be moving out in a few weeks.

But soon, that place would be home too. Even if I hadn't grown up in the apartment complex our penthouse was in—anywhere with Zane would be home to me.

Without warning the door cracked open. I had to stop myself from laughing. Show time.

Actually, laughing was good—it would add to the illusion. "There you are, Atti. I was wondering when you'd show up." I slurred. Atticus closed the door and gave me a confused look. In the time him and I had become friends, he knew I despised having and using nicknames (hero and As being the two exceptions). But never in my life had I addressed him as 'Atti' especially with so much affection.

He noticed the wine in my hand and laughed. "Decided to party without us? Aster, Aster, Aster…" He tsked as he walked forward and reached for my glass. "Zane would not approve."

I pulled my glass away and gave him a dopey smile. He had fallen for it! Now I had him right where I wanted him. I turned to set my glass on the coffee table."Zane isn't here…"

I turned and took a giant step into Atticus's personal bubble and never looked back. Putting my face uncomfortably close to his. Atticus's amusement wavered for a moment—poor fool. "Ah yeah… Good one Aster. If I didn't know any better-"

"It's much more fun when you don't know better." I purred and put my hands against his chest. This was when Atticus started to panic. His hands grabbed my wrist as he pulled them away. I leaned my head against his shoulder instead. "Atti, you smell so nice."

"Aster, you're just drunk… Here, you better sit down until Zane gets home."

He started guiding me backwards towards the couch. An idea hit me but I wasn't sure if it was too far or not. Then I remembered what Zane said _"Show no mercy."_

I tripped myself on the edge of the couch. With an "opps", I grabbed for Atticus and pulled him with me. Atticus landed right on top of me and before he could regain his guard, I wrapped my arms around him.

I think I liked the look on Atticus's face a little too much. "Aster, listen to me! You're husband—remember, the guy you married a few weeks okay—is going to be home soon."

"Better make this quick then." I pulled him closer and growled. Almost on cue. Zane opened the door. I turned to him slowly trying to act dazed and confused. While his eyes read amused, Zane's mouth was down turned in a snarl.

"What the hell are you doing Atticus?"

"What? No. It's a misunderstanding! Aster's drunk and…."

Atticus pushed himself off of me and backed away from Zane. I watched as Zane crossed the room in several large steps—placing himself just as close to Atticus as I had been previously. Only this time, Zane looked like he could murder Atticus. "I should kill you for even touching him." Zane said in a deadly low voice.

I noticed Atticus was shaking and decided enough was enough. I let myself laugh. Zane started laughing too making Atticus confused. Finally, I stood up and told him. "Maybe next time you'll think before you put a girl in my husband's lap."

It took him a moment to realize that it was a prank. When he did, Atticus took a sharp intake of breath followed by a nervous lap. "Oh my god, really you guys? Thank god—I almost had a heart attack."

Zane allowed Atticus out of the corner. "That was kind of the point. I'll have you know, a lot of thought went into this prank."

"I bet." Atticus picked up my wine glass off the table and finished up its contents. I gave Zane a knowing look. I felt a little guilty that we had caused Atticus so much grief; but at the same time it felt good to give him a little taste of his own medicine. Mostly, it felt good to establish that when he messed with Zane he messed with me. And nobody messes with us.

Nobody would destroy the life I've worked so hard to build.

**Zane's POV**

(Late September)

"Aster?" I called out as I entered the penthouse. The only thing I missed about that old apartment (besides my early memories of Aster) was that it was really too much trouble to find him when we had somewhere to be. For example, we had to be at this very; very nice restaurant in about twenty minutes or else our seats would be given away. And I doubted that Aster would enjoy spending his birthday in a café.

It was hard to believe that over a year ago, Aster and I really connected. That the man of my dreams had walked into my life and never walked out again. I was thankful for the day we went to the lake just like I was thankful he was born in the first place.

I vaguely noticed the crumbled paper on the table featuring a story about Louisa's big dueling career. A long with her on the cover was the man she was currently seeing—Bastion Misawa, who she had met and became friends with at the wedding.

I remembered reading the article and realizing just how mature my protégée/younger cousin had become. 

_Reporter__:_ _How has your family issues affected your career? Did it give you a bad image at first?_

_Ms. Duncan: Well, of course it has. Rising above my family and my own past has been the hardest thing about becoming a duelist. Lots of people were confused when Evelyn Francis started dueling as Louisa Duncan. Who's Who? But really—once my story came out and people realized just how awful my parents were, there was a lot of encouragement. People were writing letters and telling me how inspiring I was to escape it—I just wish Ollie had too. _

_Reporter: And if you don't mind me asking. How is your brother doing?_

_Ms. Duncan: He's making progress. It will still be awhile before he can even think about leading a normal life but I think he's finally starting to be happy. It may be horrible to say but once my father received his prison sentence and my mother passed on—It felt like a huge weight was lifted off both him and me. There's nothing to stop him from being the person he wants to be, so now he can focus on just that._

_Reporter: One more question before we end the interview—who do you most contribute your success to?_

_Ms. Duncan: Oh, who do I begin with? Of course I thank my sponsors and my many fans. I thank Mrs. Howard Francis, who took care of me after my parents were arrested and recently adopted me as her daughter. I thank her unfortunately deceased son—Ronny Francis, who helped me get away from my parents once and for all and I miss every day of my life… I think of him like a brother and I wish he was around to see what I had become. I want to thank my new boyfriend, Bastion Misawa, for keeping an eye out for me for all this fame and glory. And most importantly, I want to thank Zane Truesdale, my mentor and cousin—without him, I would have never tried dueling again and… if it hadn't been for him, I might have ended up in the same place as my brother. He gave me a second chance as well as my life back—and I will never forget him or his husband, Aster, for what they have done for me._

Louisa told me the same thing in person but the fact that she would say it was touching to say the least. Blair was making her own career in the dueling ring and in fact, was widely popular in the young male crowd (nothing serious yet but the girl was still young). And while I hadn't gone to visit Ollie for obvious reasons, my mother goes to visit him occasionally. She gave me an update in a note she sent with the gift I had her make for Aster.

_Ollie's doing well. It was strange though. The other day he asked me how you and Aster were doing. I told him about the wedding and said you both were doing well. When I did, he smiled and said "I hope one day I can find something like that—not nearly as obnoxious or dumb—but with just as much love." I just never figured him to be the type to be so…reflective._

_By the way, I don't know why you despise his smile so much—I think it's handsome. _

I felt like compiling a list, but it wasn't anything my mother didn't already know. Besides—I guess in a way, the only time I had ever seen him smile was when he was scheming or had some ulterior motive. Maybe if I saw it without all the pain and malice—I wouldn't mind it so much.

I climbed the stairs up to our bedroom—figuring Aster was still getting ready. I opened the door and saw that my husband was in fact in the room. But not for the reason I thought he was.

Aster was all dressed, groomed, and ready to go as his eyes were fixated on the t.v. I was confused when I stopped to listen _"What do you think he'll be?"_

The noise was too broken for it to be a show—it sounded like a home movie actually. I walked forward and looked to the screen.

Before my eyes, a woman sitting at a desk appeared. One hand was quickly writing down something while the other was rested on her very pregnant stomach. Despite the picture I had seen of her, the woman had long hair that rested flatly down her back in a neat pony tail—silver hair to be exact.

Shiloh Phoenix rolled her eyes as the camera man—presumably Aster's dad—continued. _"Do you think he'll be an artist? Or a mathematician? Or maybe he'll be professor just like his mom?" _

"_He could be a she for all you know."_ The voice was low but was still very much female.

"_Hmm, I have a feeling Aster will be a boy." _

"_Aster? That's… a girl's name sweetheart."_ Shiloh leaned back in her chair and became thoughtful. _"I guess it'd give him character wouldn't it?"_

"_I bet he'll be handsome, and smart just like you. Your eyes, your hair and everything."_ Silas responded. _"My charm too."_

"_And our giant egos, don't forget that."_ Shiloh joked. With Aster's unique personality, I never would have thought anyone, not even his own mother, could match it. Shiloh shrugged. _"As long as he's healthy, happy, and ours… then he __**or**__ she will perfect to me."_

"_Now please Silas—I have work to do. This has to get done before the baby's born or else I'll have to work during mater..." _

The screen went black; I turned back to Aster as he was shakily setting the remote down. I sighed, sat down next to him, and wrapped an arm around him. "You okay?"

He took a couple deep breaths and nodded. "Yeah, I just… Never really realized that today was her death date as well as my birthday."

"Where did you find this?"

"It was in one of the last boxes. I knew it was there I just… could never bring myself to watch it." I started stroking his hair as I listened to him talk. "I shouldn't even miss her, and I guess I don't but… It must have been hell for dad to be happy for all my birthdays when he had lost the love of his life that same day. And seeing this and realizing that she was a real person with real dreams and ideas—I just wonder how he could do it."

"He had to for you." I added.

"But how?... I mean, if I was in the same position—if I lost you—I could live on but, it'd be hard to be happy ever again. Let alone, smile like it never happened to begin with." Aster said softly. My heart ached for this man… the orphan boy who had lost and gained everything in such a short amount of time. "How could he be so brave?"

I thought about it for a moment, and carefully answered. "Well, think about it this way… A birthday happens once every year. But a person only dies once. That means he had eight birthdays to prefect the act—eight birthdays to get over what happened to your mom. And while he had a reason to mourn on that day—he had every reason to celebrate."

I pulled away from Aster for a moment and went to the dresser where I had left his gift for tonight. "Here, this might cheer you up a little bit." He gave the gift a peculiar look and bit his lip. Perhaps unsure if he should open it now or later. "Just open it."

With a shrug, he took the present and ripped away the wrapping. Underneath was a black and white scrap book with a small frame near the corner. In that frame was one of our wedding photos that were taken right before the reception.

In the picture, my hands were enclosed around his. I pressed his fingers to my mouth while he wore an amused grin. Aster criticized the picture publicly for showing too much affection but I asked my mother to use it, thinking he might think differently between just the two of us. The smile that unconsciously graced his face told me I was right.

"You had your mom make a photo album for us?" He flipped to the first page which featured me from duel academy and his promotion pictures.

"I didn't have a lot of the photos of us before we were teenagers. And by 'us' I mean you." I said carefully. Now that he had found them among our things, maybe we could include them. "So, I just had her do from just before we met to when we got married."

He flipped another page and found the promotion poster from our duel. At first, I thought the picture would ruin the mood considering the events that follow; but Aster started laughing instead. "I remember when they told me I was dueling you. I was so _pissed_."

"Why?"

"Well, because you were an amateur—at least in my eyes you were." I raised my eyebrow at him which made him laugh even more. "So when I first saw you—trying to hide your cockiness under your cool exterior—I wanted to destroy you. It never hit me until now how…well, funny that is."

"Hmmm." I said thoughtfully and smiled. At least he was happy again. "I guess it is funny. Like I've said before, it's hard to believe that just a few years ago, I despised you."

"Just despised? I think mortal enemies could have taken a few lessons from us." He placed the book besides him so he could wrap his arms around me. "Thank you, Zane… It's really wonderful."

I held him close and patted his back. "Well, technically, you should thank my mother—she made it."

"I will." He agreed and we but off our embrace. Aster stood from the bed and extended his hand. "Shouldn't we be going?"

I grabbed it and pulled myself up. "We're never going to make in time for our reservations." I sounded more okay with that thought than I actually was. "But, I was thinking you and I could go to that café I took you to for your birthday last year."

"The one just down the street from where we use to live?" I nodded and he chuckled. "Sounds good to me. At least this time, I won't have to combat a hangover."

I took one last look at the album before following out the door. It really was odd how much we hated each other when we first met. But I guess it's not the first impressions that are exciting—it's the things you learn after them.

A year ago, I brought home some kid who was sad, lonely, and most of all confused. And I related to it because in some aspects I was just the same. Sad because of the things I had done, lonely because no one understood, and confused as to if I'd ever find love again. Then months later I realized that not only did I find it; it was more wonderful then I ever would have imagined. And while so much has happened in a year; I was happy to know I had many more to look forward to.

The funniest thing of all was that it was the boy who had destroyed my life so many years ago, that made it worth living once more. And loving him was worth all the pain I have and will suffer.

Hey guys! Thanks once again for all the wonderful support I've received for this series. Your wonderful reviews and kind words have kept me writing this series 2 years after I've started. But I feel there is always a point where a story must end. But hopefully, I'll have some more Zane/Aster and some other couple stories coming up soon. Also, I have a few more chapters of Live and Learn to finish, so please enjoy those and thanks again for all the support. You guys rock!


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